


Last One Standing

by benjaminrussell



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Blood Hunter, Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 11:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17786597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjaminrussell/pseuds/benjaminrussell
Summary: The life of an adventurer isn’t easy, especially one who’s devoted themselves to ridding the world of demons and devils.





	Last One Standing

**Author's Note:**

> Feat. [Orion’s](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabylonsFall/pseuds/BabylonsFall) character, Nani!

Across the town square, Nani and Miradan were arguing heatedly, both gesturing emphatically and looking like they were about to come to blows. And before Zara could do anything, Miradan drew his sword and swung at Nani, clearly aiming to do significant damage. Nani immediately swung her staff up to parry the blow, and then used the momentum to spin around and drive the end of the staff in a sweeping blow towards Miradan’s legs. Zara tried to cry out, to stop two of the most important people in her life from hurting each other or worse, but she found she couldn’t speak, the toxic scars finding the worst possible time to flare up. Then she tried to scramble to her feet, but realised she couldn’t move either because her wrists and ankles were chained together behind her, leaving her helpless. The panic rose up inside her as she was forced to watch her mentor and her closest friend outside of the order trying to kill each other, and she struggled ever harder against her bonds. If only she could get free, she’d be able to do something. She didn’t know what exactly, but she just knew she’d be able to stop the fight, even if it was by physically putting herself between them. The rational part of her said that they’d most likely been taken over by demons, and that if that was the case, then they wouldn’t hesitate to her hurt Zara either, but even that was preferable to just being forced to watch. Nani drew back, narrowly avoiding a viscous strike from Miradan, and Zara briefly had hope the battle might end without bloodshed but that hope was soon dashed when she realised that Nani was only giving herself room to cast a spell. She aimed her staff at her opponent and unleashed a blast of pure, deadly magic that singed Miradan’s entire left side and that he only managed to avoid being completely engulfed by by throwing himself to the ground.

“Break!” Zara silently demanded of the manacles, pulling against them with all of her considerable strength, desperation driving her to keep fighting even through the pain it was causing her. Then a quiet voice wormed its way through her singular focus to ask, “What would you do for the power to break free?” Even though she knew better, Zara instantly thought back, “Anything!” It was like a switch was flipped. All of a sudden the manacles felt like they were made of paper and Zara easily wrenched herself free. She sprinted across the square, thoughts of nothing but stopping the chaos in front of her.

Blackness.

A beat of silence.

Then her vision cleared and she could see the fight was over. Neither Miradan or Nani would raise a hand against each other again because they’d been chopped down by Zara herself. They were both covered in blood, chunks torn out of them where Zara had hacked at them with her great sword, and Miradan’s head was lying by his feet, still slowly pumping blood from the neck. Despite missing an arm and a large part of her abdomen, Nani was still somehow alive and staring up at Zara, expression full of blame and hatred. And Zara couldn’t argue with that because it _was_ her fault. She’d given into the darkness and murdered the two most important people in her life, making her no better than the creatures she’d dedicated her life to eradicating. She dropped to her knees and clutched Nani’s one remaining hand, screwing her eyes shut as she muttered over and over, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

She woke up murmuring those same words, reality taking a few moments to sink in. There was a large warmth to one side, and when she opened her eyes, she could see it was indeed Nani’s familiar bulk, chest rising and falling softly in her sleep. Sitting up as she attempted to banish the remnants of the nightmare, Zara looked around the simple tavern room they’d rented for the night to see the sleeping figures of the rest of her party, no blood in sight, and she let out a deep breath. Everything was okay. They were safe.

“Are you alright?” Barnes asked quietly, drawing her attention to the bedroll by the door when he was just beginning to get ready for the day. She nodded and replied equally quietly as not to wake the others, “Just a nightmare.” It wasn’t quite the truth – she was still fairly shaken, but she was confident that with a little time and whatever adventure they got up to today, she’d soon be able to put the awful memory out of her mind.


End file.
